Haryana farmers fear yellow rust outbreak
KARNAL:At a time when Haryana has been struggling to come to terms with the ongoing Jat agitation, the sighting of yellow rust, a fungal disease that spreads with deadly speed, in the wheat belt has brought alarm among farmers.
Adding to the alarm is the fact that the prevailing weather conditions are ideal for the spread of the fungus. Agriculture department officials said with temperature in the 15-20 degree Celcius range with humidity above 80% can result the spread of the disease. “Yes yellow rust has been reported in Ladwa and Shahbad blocks of the Kurukshetra district and we have advised the farmers to sprayed propiconazole 25 EC (Tilt) immediately to stop it from spreading,” Karam Chand, deputy director of Haryana agriculture department told Hindustan Times.
“This period is crucial for the crop and generally the temperature fluctuates and humidity remains high in the first week of March. Fungal diseases spread during this period,” he said.
The farmers are alarmed as they had been expecting a bumper crop this year due to favorable weather conditions since the sowing in October. “The yellow rust is very dangerous disease for wheat, which is in maturing stage and it may affect growth by tuning the crop yellow,” said a wheat farmer Dharambir of Nilokheri in Karnal.
“For last two-three years, yellow rust has become very common in wheat. Last year also it caused losses to the farmers,” he said. Yellow rust is capable of wiping out most of the stand- ing crop.
“Besides affecting the crop, it also increases production cost as the farmers have to use costly fungicides to protect the crop,” another farmer, Rajesh Kamboj of Radaur of Yamunanagar district, said. Officials of the state agriculture department are expecting bumper crop this year.
They had set a 114 lakh MT target for wheat production despite a small dip in the acreage under wheat cultivation, to 25.50 lakh hectares from 25.75 lakh hectares under wheat sowing last year.
WHAT IS YELLOW RUST
As per the agriculture scientists, yellow rust is a fungal disease
and appears as powdery yellow stripes on plants. The disease usually occurs early in the growth season, when temperature ranges between 10 and 20 °C. High humidity and rainfall are favourable conditions for increasing the infection on both leaf blade and leaf sheath, even on spikes when in epidemic form, resulting fewer spikes, loss in number of grains per spike and grain weight.
The disease spreads through wind and crop losses from yellow rust can range between 50% and 90%. It is a serious disease, which has been threatening wheat cultivation in the country the past few years.
Scientists have advised farmers to consult experts for confirmation of yellow rust and to spray a solution of propiconazole 25 EC (Tilt) or tiebuconazole 250 EC (folicur) to limit spread of the disease.
A FUNGAL DISEASE, IT APPEARS AS POWDERY YELLOW STRIPES ON CROPS